Aquaphobia
by Thomas Edison
Summary: Dean x Castiel Lifeguard!Dean Winchester saves a certain author from the ocean's clutches. M for later chapters. The fluff in this story will rot your teeth. I promise.


Noodles

"Cassie, come on. I don't see the problem." Gabriel groaned from the driver's seat, sucking on his third lollipop of the day. Castiel stared out the window while gripping his knees tightly with white fingers,"You wouldn't understand my reasons, Gabriel." Outside Gabriel's small, beat-up car was a massive expanse of blue ocean accompanied by miles and miles of warm sand. Dotted here and there were patrons, mingling with one another, probably quietly checking cuties out from a safe distance or talking about silly things-like old family gossip. Some people were sprawled out underneath colorful umbrellas with shades perched on top of their noses and their bodies drenched in both sunscreen and tanning oil. Kids ran around with water guns, squirting unsuspecting parties in the faces and bums. It would all be very amusing, if this place wasn't a death trap just waiting to happen.

Suddenly, the car came to a stop and Gabriel, Castiel's brother, perked up, quickly jumping out of the car. "Come on, Cassie! Hurry up! I think, they're waiting for us." The other brother rolled his eyes and slid out from his seat in the car, grabbing his towel and bag from the back seat. The smell of ocean water hit his nose instantly and he cringed, the horrifying memories flooding back into his mind. Shaking his head to clear his mind from those terrifying thoughts, he shuffled around to the other side of the car. Gabriel was already standing there with two floaties shaped like a noodles, his own towel, a cooler, and a bag of extra lollipops tucked safely underneath his arms. "Ready, bro?" He cooed with his hip perched out to the side, a single lollipop hanging out from the side of his mouth. He looked ridiculous, standing there in nothing but his swim-trunks and some flip-flops. He had a white stripe of sunscreen down his nose and a pair of shades on top of his head, keeping his slightly long hair out of his face.

At least Castiel was normal looking. He wore a pair of dark, black swim-trunks and a blue, button-up Hawaiian shirt with little island designs on it. "Yes, I guess." Castiel sighed and lifted his bag so it rested further up on his shoulder while he followed after his excited brother. Around him palm trees swayed in the wind and voices rang through the air as well as music-some catchy pop tune he wasn't familiar with. Castiel smelt the familiar aroma of burgers and fries wafting through the ocean air. It was literally calling out Castiel's name and making his mouth water just from the smell. Off to the side of the parking lot were three food trucks lined up with about thirty people in a line, each wanting a slice of whatever smelt good. Picnic tables were set up under a large patch of trees, creating an area of shade for customers to eat at. Castiel dragged his eyes away from the trucks and looked up to the sky. It wasn't clear like Gabriel had babbled on and on about. The sun was mostly covered up by a thick blanket of clouds. His eyes then moved to stare out at the seemingly calm ocean.

It was even more terrifying than he'd thought it'd be.

Waves slapped harshly against the beach and retreated back in, making Castiel shiver just from watching it. He gulped, his eyes pulling away again. This time they settled on a large and slim building rather close to the ocean, but far enough away not to get in the way of everything. It was a lifeguard's station about five feet tall. It was the perfect size for the lifeguard on duty to just jump down and save someone's life, no hassle of having to climb down a ladder and waste time. At the very top of the wooden station sat a woman with blonde hair that was pulled back into a tight pony tail and shades covering her eyes in the rays of the sun. She had a whistle propped in between her lips, ready to blow at any sign of trouble. And, suddenly, she did.

The whistle was loud and it rang through the air, silencing conversations, stopping kids in their tracks and making everyone's head turn to look at her. "Winchester!" She screamed out of no where and blew her whistle a couple more times, a scowl prominent of his young features . "Get your ass up here! My shift ended ten minutes ago." Then, everyone went back to what they were doing.

"Sorry, Jo! You know the rules-gotta wait thirty minutes before getting back in the water!" A ruff voice called back laced with amusement ten feet behind Castiel. The hoarse and happy tune sent a shiver down the Novak's spine, not in the bad way either. The voice was deep, dark, and just plain sexy. He flashed a glance to the owner of the voice and nearly dropped dead right then and there. The male was a couple inches taller than Castiel, shirtless, had on mandatory lifeguard swim-trunks, black sandals, and had a tan that looked as if he'd hugged the sun every day for the last six years. Winchester, Castiel had assumed, had short, cropped blonde hair, rippling muscles, and as he drew closer to the station and Castiel, a tattoo of _something_ over his heart.

Winchester was set out in a soft jog, clearly taking his time in getting over there and this only exaggerated the female lifeguard, Jo, further. She huffed and literally threw her water noddle with the label 'GUARD' on it at Dean when he got close enough. The male laughed-a deep throaty thing, were it made his whole body shutter when he did-and smiled, the edges of his eyes crinkling around his sunglasses. "That wasn't the case here, idiot. You just wanted to talk to Lisa at the trucks, didn't you? God, you're lucky my mom likes you enough to keep you around. I can't fathom why though." Jo growled back as she jumped down from the top of the station and onto the sand below. Winchester beamed with excitement and shrugged his shoulders, looking down at the woman,"I like to think it's because of my good looks and charm." Jo didn't seem to like this answer and punched the other in the arm hard, then poking Winchester's naked chest with a single manicured nail. "I don't think so. And just for that...you, Winchester, work for another.../two/ hours. Whenever Ash comes to relieve you, you can go home. Got it?" She was slightly threatening in Castiel's opinion. He'd hate to be at that guy's end of the argument.

The other lifeguard simply found this amusing and grabbed the noodle from the ground, then started to climb the ladder to the top, chuckling again. "I got it, Jo." Dean stood there, ignoring the chair behind him and looked out, seeming to focus on watching everyone. Castiel continued to stare as the male worked. The way his shoulders slumped and his hips stuck out made it look like he was bored, but judging by the way he was clutching the noodle to his side and had the whistle between his lips said otherwise. His head flicked every which way. It was rather cute. Castiel could stand there and watch him all day.

When had he stopped walking?

This was when Castiel was suddenly pulled back into reality by his brother. "Earth to Cassie. You there?" Gabriel snickered and grabbed his upper arm, yanking him towards a group of people standing around and talking loudly. "Oh, sorry." He gulped and tore his eyes away from the beautiful man to his family. All of his brothers were there: Samandriel, Balthazar, Micheal, and Lucifer-Luc for short. Anna, his only sister, was there, too. Kali-Gabriel's on and off again girlfriend, and lastly Meg. He groaned when he spotted her. She was a girl back in high school who bullied him in a kind-of friendly way and called him 'Clarence'. It was utterly humiliating. Gabriel always told him that they would make a great couple, if Castiel would just lighten up about it and make a move. This made Castiel roll his eyes and ever since Castiel met Meg, Gabe's been trying to find subtle ways of getting them paired together-alone.

"We were starting to think you weren't coming, Gabe-wait, is that who I think it is?! You got him to come?" Anna breathed, looking perfect as ever. Her un-natural red hair flowed freely down her shoulders and her bright green-ish eyes looked from Gabriel to Castiel as if she couldn't believe it. "Castiel!" Samandriel exclaimed suddenly spotting him and rushing to give him a giant bear hug. Micheal did the same, but slower and less forceful. "Good to see you, Castiel." Micheal muttered as Lucifer grinned from ear to ear and joined the massive hug around Castiel. "It's great to be back." He mumbled into Samandriel's shoulder as the rest of them piled in for the giant reunion hug. Everyone was talking to him at once, their smiles beaming at him. This only made his gut twist in guilt.

This was one of the reasons Castiel didn't wanna come. He knew his family would be there-well, his siblings at least. He knew they'd all be mad at him on some level for not calling or emailing them, but-hell-if Castiel didn't like the freedom college provided him. You see, Castiel's childhood consisted of tight and restrictive schedules that could absolutely could not be broken. You always had to be where you were supposed to be on time, no exceptions. Only two of the six siblings had broken this rule-Lucifer and Gabriel. Lucifer had skipped school for a day and didn't come down for dinner one night, claiming he was 'sick with the flu' and didn't want to infect everyone else. Lucifer had confided in his brother, Micheal, about secretly sneaking off to spend the day with a girl down the street. Micheal was extremely to their families's rules and instantly spilled the beans at dinner the second their father asked about Lucifer. Castiel's father had ripped Lucifer a new one. The man even sent Lucifer to live down South with their uncle, Crowley, for a few days. A few days turned to months and then, years. Castiel only saw Lucifer on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and on big family events.

On the other hand, there was Gabriel. His brother took a liking to Lucifer's actions and decided to rebel against Castiel's parents in subtle ways like eating massive amounts of candy after seven PM or staying out late every other night doing God knows what with God knows who. Their father was livid with Gabriel's actions, but Castiel's mother- _bless her_ -begged their father to go easy on him, simply saying that he was a teenager and he still had time to learn. That night Castiel's father and Gabriel had the biggest fight- _well,_ since Lucifer. Gabriel had fled the house and was never seen again. He still kept up with his siblings via secret emails. Castiel remembered those couple months like it was written on the back of his hand.

It was a very strict and religious household, too. Every Sunday and Wednesday-sometimes Thursdays for Bible Study-, his mother and father would drag the whole household to church and stay for hours on end. One time they prayed for six hours straight-it was mentally and physically exhausting.

But. Once Castiel was old enough, he moved out and got himself into college on a full ride, living in a dorm for two years til he could afford his own apartment just off campus. He only visited home on holidays and birthdays. Other than that, the only people he kept into close contact are Balthazar and Gabriel.

/Finally/, the hug was over and everyone dispersed, kicking their flip-flops off and heading towards the water in a sprint. Castiel spotted an empty chair among his families's things and it was, thankfully, underneath a very large umbrella, too. Score! The Heavens were definitely smiling down on him today. He plopped down and dug through his bag, pulling out a single book. He sat back and stretched his legs out, relaxing his shoulders a bit before starting to read the first line when-

"Cassie! No, no. You're not going to sit here and read." Gabriel scowled down at him and plucked the book from him, then tossed it to the side, earning a displeased sound from Castiel. "Come on. Everyone's going swimming."

The blue-eyed male slumped back against the chair and waved his hands carelessly,"Gabe, yo-you know why I can't. In case, you've forgotten...I can't." He paused and gulped, suddenly finding his fingers interesting. "I can't swim. I don't even see why you brought me anyways."

His brother grabbed his arm and yanked him to his feet, moving close to start un-buttoning Castiel's Hawaiian shirt, but he stops half-way to peer up at Castiel. "You think I'm an idiot, don't you, little bro? Well, I'm not." Castiel's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion and he tilted his head to the side,"What do you mean?"

"I already thought of that. Castiel," He began and takes a step back, looking over his shoulder to Meg, who was in a deep, purple bikini and holding two neon green noodles by her side,"you remember Meg, right?" Castiel nods slowly, still not understanding even as he's being pushed forward to Meg. "Good. She'll be your instructor for today, so have fun, kids. Remember to use the floaties and wear a condom, Cassie!" With that, Gabriel dashed off, most likely to rub tanning oil on Kali, then splash around in the water.

Castiel's mouth was hung open in shock, his cheeks starting to redden from the words. Of course, Meg was attractive, what with her wavy, light brown hair that came down to just past her breasts and striking caramel orbs that somehow seemed to read Castiel like an open book. She was a petite, little thing, just a few inches shorter than Castiel was. She was curvy in all the right places and her lips were always up-turned into a light smirk like she knew exactly what you were thinking. He would be lying, if he said he wasn't attracted to her on some level. Back to the matter at hand. Gabriel couldn't honestly mean-he wouldn't-no, no, _no._ But, to confirm his fears, Meg stepped up into his personal space and tucked the noodles underneath her armpits, just so she could finish un-buttoning his shirt for him. The heat rolled off her in waves as she eyed his lips closely. He flushes more deeply at this and looks down at her, blue eyes wide and unable to say _something._

"Don't look so shocked, Clarence." She cooed, her lips incredibly close to his as she spoke and smirked, dragging her eyes to meet Castiel's. "You'll be safe with me. You can even hold my hand, if you want."

There it was. That awful nickname. No matter how many times he's told her it's Cas-ti-el, she just doesn't listen.

Her hands crept lower and lower til they grabbed his-

"Okay!" He spluttered, taking the initiative to step back and gesture at the ocean. "We should-get going. Right?!" Castiel kicked away his shoes and shrugged his shirt off his shoulders, revealing his slightly tan skin. He wasn't a supermodel like a certain lifeguard was. He considered himself-average. Not too bad looking, but good looking enough to get a date every once in a while or attract the eyes of a certain demon-I mean, Meg.

"Whatever you say, lover-boy." Her eyes raked up and down his newly exposed skin like he was a fresh piece of raw meat. She started off towards the ocean, her long legs taking full strides and her hips swaying seductively as she trots along.

Castiel could only follow and flash a glance over to the lifeguard's station, finding Winchester standing with his glasses off and-surprisingly-he was staring straight at Castiel. The male waved at him and smiled all teeth and cheeks.

His cheeks flushed from even more embarrassment and Castiel immediately turned away, stepping a little bit quicker to catch up to Meg. Her feet were already in the shallow part of the water and she was watching Castiel hesitantly linger by the edge of the water, gulping down nervous breaths of air. "/Oh, Come on/, Clarence. You're not gonna chicken out on me, are you?" She whined as her shoulders slumped visibly.

The male gulped, looking to his sister and brothers swimming off in the distance. Anna splashed some water at Lucifer and Micheal. Samandriel was talking loudly with Balthazar, smiling and laughing like the goofy idiot he was. Castiel glares at the water for a good long minute before stepping into it and heading to Meg. By now the water was up to his knees and slowly getting higher as he trudged through. "Let's go." He huffed, his feet sinking into the wet sand below. Meg gave him the two noodles when they the water came up to his chest feet still both firmly on the wet ground. She helped him arrange the floaties up underneath his arms and across his chest, pushing Castiel further out and letting him try to float without her.

"Gah!" He gasped at first and gripped her right shoulder with one hand, trying to steady himself. "I got you, little unicorn." She whispered evilly, maneuvering them both into the deeper parts of the ocean. "This isn't so bad, right?" She asked and smiled genuinely at him, holding onto his arm gently. Castiel nods, a half-smile edging onto his lips. "I guess not." He choked out, still tense and rigid.

Castiel hadn't felt the bottom of the ocean underneath his feet for a while now-okay, three minutes, _tops._ The clouds in the sky were now blocking the sun's rays out completely, casting the beach a nice blanket of shade for a few minutes. The wind picked up as well, slowly dragging Castiel and Meg every which way. The waves out here were rather bumpy and forceful. They sometimes went over his head, damping his black hair and making it stick to his forehead, but luckily the noodles helped him stay up. Meg laughed at something Lucifer did off about fifteen feet to their right and mumbled that she'd be back in a second. It apparently would take too long to drag him along with her.

"Meg!" Castiel called and splashed slightly, wanting her to come back and-you know-reassure him, help him, get him back to shore, not leave him alone. Especially since no one else-conveniently-was around him. "I'll be back before you can say 'Iloveyoutothemoonandback,Meg'. Okay, Clarence?"

"Fine."

The wind around him started to pick up more, moving him slowly off to the side away from his family and a little further out. Not that he cared. With the waves passing over and under Castiel more frequently and heavily, he turned away from the vast ocean behind him and looked towards land. Nothing had really changed. Kids still ran around, playing in the sand and splashing around in the shallow regions of the water. Parents continued to laugh at conversations, read books, listen to music, and try to get a tan. Nobody was far out like Castiel and his siblings were. That's odd. Everyone was retreating back to land. He sighed and clutched the noodles tighter. Blue eyes shift to look for the lifeguard, but he was surprisingly...not at his station.

Where-?

"Castiel!" Someone screamed hoarsely.

His head perked up and he saw Anna about halfway back to shore with the rest of his family trailing behind, even Meg paddling behind them. His eyes widened and his eyebrows furrowed in shock. Where the hell were they going?! They were leaving him!

Suddenly, he was pushed forward by a blinding force and the noodles were shoved out from underneath his arms. Water immediately entered his mouth and he gagged, flailing and trying to reach the surface again, but the water pulled him down harder. Finally, he made it back up and gasps in a mouth full of air, his arms out stretched, trying to grasp onto something- _anything._ But there was nothing. The floaties drifting away with the rough waves back to shore.

Just his luck.

Something knocked into him again, sending him spiraling back down into the dreadful water. He repeated his actions yet again and it happened again...and again. Until, the sixth or seventh time the force hit. It happened sooner than expected. This time Castiel didn't have any more energy to fight, to kick, to flail, to _breathe,_ to _cry out for help._ His body went limp as the water yanked him deeper into the back abyss. Water entered his mouth and he gagged, wanting it out desperately.

His eyes fluttered open, then closed, then open, and then closed again. The last sight he saw was the warm and bright sun shine in through the water's ripples.

Then.

Darkness.


End file.
